


some stranger you recognize

by glitterforplaster (ineffableangel)



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 00:23:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15012632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineffableangel/pseuds/glitterforplaster
Summary: “It’s green tea.” Joshua nudges a bundle of black fabric into Neku’s other hand. “And this is your wrist brace. And I’m your future husband. Come watch HGTV with me.”





	some stranger you recognize

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yoshiya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshiya/gifts).



> commission for ven deadgodchild ♡
> 
> title from "soft place to land" by sara bareilles

The sky above the district is black and starless, streaked only by streetlamps and high-rises, when Joshua comes to check on Neku.

Neku startles. He blinks blearily up from the faint glow of his computer screen, and into the faint glow of Shibuya’s Composer, an unfocused seraph, familiar even in the dark. He slides off his headphones, and sound returns to the world: Lofi Hip Hop Radio 24/7 replaced by his partner’s voice, soft, saying his name. Between Joshua’s bunny slippers and his feather-light true form, Neku hadn’t heard his footsteps, or anticipated the delicate hand on his shoulder, pinching at a nerve, but he’s glad to see him. Always.

“Hi,” he says. “What are you doing?”

Joshua pinches harder. His sharp, short fingernails make moonprints in Neku’s skin. “Trying to find the pressure point that puts you to sleep.”

“That’s _Star Trek_. All you’re succeeding at is making me tense. Go away, I’m working.”

Joshua sighs his sigh, and releases Neku. “I _know_ , dearest. That’s the problem.” Neku’s stomach flips at the saccharine endearment, half _don’t patronize me_ , half _I’m dear to him._ “Here.”

Joshua pushes a cup forward. It’s one of many mugs they’ve stolen from Sanae; it says _My Job Is TOP SECRET! (Even I Don’t Know What I’m Doing.)_

Ignoring the twinge in his hand, which threatens to cramp, Neku lifts it to his lips. The drink is sweet and herbal, with a bitter aftertaste, though not as bitter as he expected. “This isn’t coffee,” he says reproachfully.

“It’s green tea.” Joshua nudges a bundle of black fabric into Neku’s other hand. “And this is your wrist brace. And I’m your future husband. Come watch HGTV with me.”

“I’m _working_ ,” Neku emphasizes, gesturing back at his setup, his window still open on his latest commission, his tablet pen probably already lost in the second since he set it down.

“To _death_.” Joshua checks the inside of his own wrist, pale and completely bare of a timepiece. “It’s been five hours since you paid any attention to me, and I’m sick of it. I’m positively wilting. One episode of House Hunters won’t hurt you, or destroy your dot sai.”

Neku frowns. Has it really been five hours? It hardly felt like five minutes. But his previous coffee cup is cold, and his eyes do feel strained. The aroma of herbs is soothing a headache he didn’t notice he had.

“One little break,” Joshua croons. “You can play with my hair.”

Neku can _hear_ the tilde in his voice, and that he’s a second away from weaponizing his eyelashes. He rolls his chair back. “ _Fine_.”

  


 

*

  


 

“It’s cute,” Neku says, another cup of tea — chamomile, this time — and an episode later. They’re curled together on the couch, Josh’s bunny slippers kicked off to cross his ankles over Neku’s.

“Hm? You mean the wallpaper?” Joshua tilts his head onto the top of Neku’s. “I don’t think those little blue sailboats belong in anyone’s dining room.”

Neku snorts, and turns into Josh’s throat, deliciously cool against his feverish face. “No,” he says, words coming out soft and slow. “It’s cute that you act like I don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t want my company. You think I’ve been overworking, and you know straight people problems put me to sleep.”

“You’ve uncovered my devilish plot yet again, Neku-kun.” Joshua kisses his forehead. “You’re too clever for your own good.”

When Neku wakes up, he’s still in Joshua’s arms. He doesn’t know when he drifted off, only that the TV is silent, the apartment dark, and he’s being carried to bed. He feels heavy, but Joshua holds him like he weighs a gram and means a ton.

If he lets his eyes unfocus any further, familiar wings might unfurl from Joshua’s back like the white-hot heart of a flame. He’s easier to see without filters. Lucky Neku has way less of those these days.

Into Joshua’s shoulder, Neku mumbles, “‘Koma’s gonna kill you if he finds out you made leaf-water in his bean property.”

Joshua giggles and pours Neku into the bed. The last thing he remembers is the sound of Velcro as his brace comes off, and the press of a kiss to the inside of his wrist. He sighs happily, folds himself fully into sleep, knowing there’s nowhere in this city he’s safer. The Real Ground gives way to another world.

  


 

*

  


 

When Neku wakes up again, it’s morning. Light pools over the floorboards. His hair sticks straight up from all the gel left in it overnight, Joshua is frozen mid-tip-toe in front of him, and there’s a note pasted to his forehead. Neku peels it away. It says, in sweet, curly cursive, _Gone Composing. Will pick up detergent and those strawberry gummies you like._ It’s decorated with more hearts and stars than his sleep-stuck eyes can handle.

He hasn’t had caffeine yet, so the scene takes a few seconds to process. He holds up the note, stuck to the pad of his pointer finger.

Joshua straightens, cocks a hand on his hip. He doesn’t have the decency to look embarrassed. “I just got back. I was trying to sneak that off before you noticed.”

Neku closes his eyes, draws the covers tighter around himself. The apartment is always ten degrees colder than it needs to be, and he’s the only one who minds. “You could’ve texted me. Like a normal twenty-something.”

“I’m not normal,” Joshua says. “Or twenty, I think.”

Oh. Yeah. His boyfriend being half-dead, half-death-bringer doesn’t bother him often. He had harbored hopes of applying for a civil partnership certificate, so their names could be together on the lease— until he remembered Yoshiya Kiryu doesn’t exist anymore, hasn’t for years. Neku doesn’t need a piece of paper to tell him they’re tethered, or that there’s trust here, but it would have been nice.

“Why do I buy you birthday presents then?” Neku hears his text tone go off. He opens his eyes to Joshua’s smirk and the delivery of a billion emojis, including eggplants. “Jesus Christ.”

“Nope, just me. Are you going back to your commissions cave?”

“Mhm. Later.”

“Coffee first?”

“Aha! I _do_ keep you around for a reason.”

Neku rolls out of bed and into one of Josh’s button-ups. He can never decide if it’s grey or purple— another way in which Josh’s existence won’t settle into something simple. In the kitchen, he briefly admires the paraphernalia on their fridge: the takeout menu, the magnet letters Neku used to spell _TOP RIGHTS,_ since rearranged to _STOP IT_ , and the Polaroid of their friends at the fair— Beat showing off his stuffed prize to the heavens like it’s Simba, Shiki laughing behind her hand.

They wander out to their tiny apartment terrace, a fire escape turned fire hazard and forest. Joshua tends to it, his gloves dusted with soil, looking distinctly indelicate, delightfully human. The neighborhood tabby wanders in, via whatever interdimensional portal allows her to visit them on the fifth floor. Neku contents himself with his coffee, hot in his hands. He surveys the landscape of potted plants. Lemongrass stalks and bell shaped flowers shoot up toward the sky. Mint spills over the side of a recycled can still boasting its loudly colored label.

As he watches Josh water his herb garden, and laugh sharply when the stray sticks her head under the spray, he remembers the bitter boys they used to be; how existence seemed so empty of meaning or purpose, and is now so full of this light; how he had to duel with pistols at dawn to stop _someone_ from destroying this city and everyone in it. Today, that same someone cultivates life on their terrace.

They clashed. And Joshua changed.

Neku sets his cup down on the windowsill. He steps forward and wraps his arms around Joshua’s waist. Josh leans back into him, solid against his chest— not warm or breathing, but as alive as they come. “I love you,” Neku says.

“I love you, too,” Joshua says, sounding surprised. “What’s that for?”

“You told me once that everyone has a garden only they can enter.” Neku rests his chin on Joshua’s shoulder and watches the summer sun set over Shibuya. “I’m just… happy to be in yours.”

He isn’t sure the weight of the memory will translate, but Joshua seems to understand exactly what he means. He smiles, and squeezes Neku’s hand. “What can I say, dear? My world began with you.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> if you'd like to commission me, you can contact me @GLLTERATURE on twitter!


End file.
